LETS PLAY MONEY MAKING GAME
by Lakupo
Summary: Link learns a hard lesson about gambling addiction -- a very hard and painful lesson.


A rock whizzed through the air, narrowly missing Link's head by mere centimeters. The Hylian turned to face one of the octoroks attacking him, and lunged at it with his sword. The blade cut deep, mortally wounding the land-octopus. Link pulled his sword out, and the octorok flashed and vanished into a puff of smoke.

Link spun to face the remaining octorok, which was hopping between boulders, taunting him. The lad reached over his shoulder and grabbed his wooden bow, readying it in his left hand. He slipped his other hand into his money bag, and pulled out a small one-rupee piece and held it up the bow string. In the blink of an eye, the rupee morphed into a wooden arrow. The monster continued leaping, as the Hylian pulled the arrow back, focusing on his target, waiting for the right moment to release --

The octorok let out a painful cry for a second, its eyes glazing over. The arrow jutted straight out of its forehead. A second later, it vanished into a puff of smoke like its brother. "Yes! Ganon's magic is nothing to the power of the hero! Hah!" Link stood proud, until his stomach growled at him. _But the hero is nothing to the power of hunger..._ he thought to himself. The boy checked his satchel for food, disappointed to find only a few dried breadcrumbs. _Maybe there's a shop around here where I can buy something to eat._

The hero looked about for buildings or caves. _There isn't much this far north... but I must keep looking. I may have all eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, but I can't face Ganon on an empty stomach!_ As he walked along, he noticed a crack on the side of the mountain, the tell-tale sign of a secret cave.

Link pulled out a small bomb, and placed the explosive by the fracture. _I hope it's not one of those disgruntled hermits... I can't afford to pay for anymore doors,_ he thought to himself as he stepped out of the bomb's range. The blast left behind a clean entranceway, which Link stepped through with trepidation.

Slowly feeling his way through the tunnel, Link's eyes adjusted to the soft glow of torch-light by the time he reached the main chamber. An old man sitting by a table yelled heartily "LET'S PLAY MONEY MAKING GAME!" Link, as usual, only thought of his stomach. "Do you have anything to eat?"

"For you, boy, I have anything you need," The old man laughed, and pointed to the stool across from him. "Have a seat, my boy." The man rummaged through a small bin next to the table while Link sat down, and pulled out a bundle wrapped in paper. He pulled off the packaging, to reveal a morsel of cured meat, which he offered to the boy.

"Thanks," Link said, taking the gift graciously. He eyed the aged man in flowing red robes. Thinking he should somehow repay the old man, he decided to ask about the money-making game. "What kind of game do you play here?"

"Why don't I show you, my boy?" The man placed three small bowls upside down on the table. He reached into a pocket inside his robe, and pulled out a small clay ball, with Hylian letters painted all over the surface. Link recognized a few words -- luck, fortune, money -- before the man slipped it under one of the bowls. The man placed his hands over the cups, and started shuffling them around the table with astonishing speed for a man his age. Half a minute later, he stopped. "Now, lad, find the ball."

Link sat there, spellbound by the simple game. He threw a few rupees onto the table as his bet, and pointed at the cup he thought the ball was under. The man lifted the small bowl and revealed the empty space below, and with his other hand lifted the cup with the ball resting under it. "Awh! I was so close too! One more game!" The boy bet even more, in a misguided attempt to win back what he had already lost. This continued, game after game.

The old man laughed each and every time he won, scooping up Link's bet with his hands and storing them in his coffers. He let the young Hylian win just enough times to keep thoughts of cheating out of the boy's mind, but it didn't matter. Link's reign on his finances was so loose, the old man might as well have reached into the boy's wallet and taken everything with his hands.

After a few seemingly short hours, Link had gambled away all of his money. "Is that all, my boy? Too bad," the old man said, putting away the cups. Link thanked the man for the food, and sulked out of the cave. When he stepped out in the waning sunlight, he pulled out his empty money bag, and looked inside. _The princess doesn't need to hear about this part of my adventure._

Link put the relatively minor setback of being broke out of his mind, and returned to the quest at hand. He marched on, to Spectacle Rock, and stepped down into Ganon's dungeon. The hero hacked and slashed through the minions sent after him -- keese, gibdos, stalfos -- all fell to the mighty power of the Master Sword in his hands. Winding his way through the skull-shaped maze, Link found the treasure room in the left eye.

The boy kneeled and cracked open the chest, squinting to see through the magical glow, and peered into the box. He reached in and pulled out the Silver Bow that lay inside, and held it up high in the torchlight. "Awesome, this must be Ganon's weakness... now I'm ready to take him on... I'm coming, Princess!" he said to himself, before dashing out of the room and back into the labyrinth.

Hyrule's last hope finally reached Ganon's inner sanctum, in the right eye of the maze. Confident as ever, he walked through the doorway with determination. He could see the glowing red eyes of his nemesis in the darkness, sitting on the other side of the room, waiting for Link to enter. The shutter door slammed down, locking him inside with the foul beast. The torches came alive, revealing Ganon's hulking form: a giant man-beast with the features of a pig. Link gritted his teeth, and rushed the beast head on.

Link swung his blade at the giant pig-man's body, but rather than a satisfying slice and a howl of pain, all he heard was a dull thud. Ganon looked down at the puny blade and the piece of flesh where it left no mark and laughed. The boy looked up with dismay, and racked his brain trying to think of what to do next. _Ah! The bow!_ He reached behind him and grabbed his shiny new silver bow and held it up with left hand, and reached into his money bag with the right -- to find nothing. Link frowned, and looked up at Ganon leering down at him, a sinister smirk on his face.

_I'm sorry, Princess, I'm sorry..._

  
  
  


_Author's notes: Heh, well, this was my first fiction writing in a LONG time, but I'm proud of it, which is surprising. It was a whacky idea that I came up with when I was talking about crazy fanfic ideas with a friend, and I just felt compelled to write it._

_The idea of a headstrong hero falling victim to gambling addiction is an appealing concept; and the dire consequences make it all the better. No, I don't like killing off beloved characters, but it is a very possible ending to the actual game._

_I tried to stick to the details of Zelda 1's Hyrule as much as possible... I even checked a map and found out a Money Making Game is two screens away from Spectacle Rock! It worked out quite nicely. Hope everyone likes! Maybe I'll do more whacky fanfics in the future!_


End file.
